Video: Explanation (Uncovering your protagonist's inner issue)

We've been talking about how important it is that the reader immediately gets a sense of your protagonist's agenda, what she wants, why she wants it, and a long-standing fear that she'll have to overcome to get it. Question is, how the heck do you know what those things actually are? The answer is by digging in your protagonist's backstory. After all, you can't filter everything that happens through your protagonist's worldview unless you know what her worldview is. While writers often balk at the idea of outlining or developing their characters before they begin writing, this is the key thing that can cut down on rewriting time.

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1h 59mBeginnerJan 31, 2013

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In this course, author Lisa Cron digs into the craft of writing a compelling story based on what the brain is wired to respond to in every story we hear. Whether you're writing a story from scratch, or revising your story for the umpteenth time, this course offers practical how-to advice, then illustrates it using before-and-after examples. Discover how to craft a first page, zero in on your story's point, create empathy, find a character's secret goals and inner issues, translate generics into specifics, write for suspense, create cause-and-effect connections, build momentum and tension, and deftly implement setups, payoffs, flashbacks, subplots, and foreshadowing.

Explanation (Uncovering your protagonist's inner issue)

We've been talking about how important it is that the reader immediately gets a senseof your protagonist's agenda, what she wants, why she wants it, and a long-standing fearthat she'll have to overcome to get it.Question is, how the heck do you know what those things actually are?The answer is by digging in your protagonist's backstory.After all, you can't filter everything that happens through your protagonist's worldviewunless you know what her worldview is.While writers often balk at the idea of outlining or developing their characters before theybegin writing, this is the key thing that can cut down on rewriting time.

But this kind of preparation doesn't have to put a crimp in your creativity, and itdefinitely doesn't have to include one of those long births to death character bios.Here's the secret: you're only looking for information that affects the story you're telling.If a story is about the protagonist facing a specific long-standing problem or fear inorder to get what she wants, then what you're looking for is the root of that problem.You want to pin-point two things.First, what specific event caused her problem or fear in the first place?Second, what event triggered her desire for the goal itself?The trick is to then trace how these two competing forces shaped her life up to the moment that the story begins.

That's what makes digging into your character's past so essential.Truth is, everything a character does is based on their interpretation of the events.After all, we don't see the world as it is, we see the world as we are.For instance, Olive thinks that everyone is only in it for themselves, thus the nicerpeople are to her, the more she is sure they're only out to con her.So, knowing how your protagonist sees the world and where and why her interpretation isoff is what allows you to create a compelling plot that will force her to come to gripswith her mistaken end belief.

Remember, a story is about change, things start out one way and end up another.The information you'll unearth is the protagonist's before, which you can then weave into thestory so the reader understands what she's changing from.The beauty of knowing these things is that it will also reveal something that writersoften struggle to nail down: when exactly did your story start?The answer is it starts the moment life will no longer let the protagonist avoid her fear,not if she wants to achieve her goal, that is.

And this is the brilliant thing, unearthing the root of your protagonist's inner issuewill tell you what she has to learn at the end of the story in order to succeed.Now let's go to the next movie to see how it's done.

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